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Oman container terminal to up capacity 400pc after Muscat port closes

OMAN International Container Terminal, managed by Hong Kong's Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), will increase capacity 400 per cent to six million TEU on the closure of the Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat, reports IHS Maritime Fairplay.

"The opening of a new and expanded container terminal and the transfer of all commercial shipping from Muscat have built international awareness of Sohar," said Sohar Industrial Port Company CEO Andre Toet.

Mr Toet said that investments in the facility have so far totalled US$21 billion, and that a survey ranked Sohar as the second most important port in the GCC after Jebel Ali.

HPH managing director Eric Ip told the Gulf Cooperation Council Supply Chain and Logistics conference in Sohar that the company would fast-track development at the terminal.

This has already seen OICT's yard size increase 69 acres to 108 acres in Terminal C's first phase and is part of a plan to grow OICT's capacity to 5.3 million TEU from the current 2.3 million TEU.

In the first quarter of 2015, Sohar's TEU traffic grew 61 per cent to 123,533 TEU year on year, according to Sohar Port. The relocation of all commercial traffic from Muscat has been the main driver for recent peaks in cargo volumes.

Expecting further growth, Mr Ip said the company is also planning construction of Terminal D, which could start as early as 2018-19 and would further increase OICT's annual capacity,

"We are committed to Sohar Port and to the Sultanate of Oman. We will continue the development of facilities at the port to capture growing trade activities in the Middle East and the potential to serve the latest class of 20,000-TEU mega-ships. We are building for the future," Mr Ip said.

HPH plans to invest $303 million by 2019, including the $184 million that had already been invested in OICT as of the end of 2014 for the purchase of three postpanamax cranes, 14 rubber-tyre gantry cranes, and 24 terminal tractors.